Former vice-president, Atiku Abubakar has condemned the policy pegging 18 as the minimum age for tertiary institution admissions.
Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 2023, through a statement released on Wednesday, said the policy belongs in the stone age.
Back in July, the Nigerian government adopted 18 as the minimum age for university, polytechnic, and college of education admissions.
The minister of education, Tahir Mamman recently announced that students who have not spent the requisite total of 12 years in primary and secondary school will not be permitted to sit for any of the senior school certificate examinations (SSCE).
The policy has incited mixed reactions as some parents and guardians have rejected it.
Abubakar labelled the policy as “an absurdity and a disincentive to scholarship”.
He said it violated the notion of “delineation of responsibilities” in federalism.
“The Nigerian constitution puts education in the concurrent list of schedules, in which the sub-national government enjoys more roles above the federal government,” he said.
“It is extra-constitutional for the federal government to legislate on education in a manner similar to a decree.
“The best global standard for such regulation is to allow the sub-national governments to make respective laws or rules on education.
“It is discouraging that even while announcing this obnoxious policy, the government inadvertently said it had no plan to cater for specially gifted pupils.
“The irony here is that should the federal government play any role in education, it is to set up mechanisms that will identify and grant scholarships to gifted students, not minding their ages before applying for admission into tertiary institutions.
“This controversial policy belongs in the stone ages and should be roundly condemned by everyone who believes in intellectual freedom.”
Nigeria operates the 6–3–3–4 system where a child starts school at the age of six for six years each of primary and secondary education.
At the completion of secondary school, a Nigerian is expected to be aged 18. But a lot of students often graduate at 16 or less due because they skipped grades.